QUESTIONNAIRE - Page 13

The method of filling in the questions and of scoring is explained in the first page of the Questionnaire, Activity.

B - EMOTIONAL STABILITY

Trait 6 - HYPOCHONDRIA

Do you usually feel reasonably well and strong?

Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:
Do you frequently feel feint?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you have more headaches than most people?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you worry a lot about catching diseases?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you visit your doctor when you have a cold?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you keep a medical cabinet with a variety of left-overs from past prescriptions?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Are you normally in quite good health?

Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:
Does stomach trouble run in your family?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Are other people unsympathetic when you are feeling unwell?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you worry a lot about other members of your family getting ill?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you stay off work if you have any kind of health problem?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you read medical books and worry that you have all the symptoms described?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you find it comforting when you are ill to get all the extra attention and sympathy from your family and friends?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you feel pity for people who are ill?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you believe that you can readily maintain good health through adequate exercise and nutrition?

Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:
Are you quite pleased when a physical symptom allows you to avoid work or some other responsibility?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Are you seldom ill?

Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:
Do you worry a lot about your health?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Are you very afraid of getting a serious illness or needing an operation?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you frequently call out the doctor?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Is death something that you feel may be just around the corner?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you tend to feel ill around certain people or places?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do certain memories accompany painful symptoms?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you feel more important when telling people about an interesting symptom that you suffer from?

Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:
Do you get a great deal of pleasure from the health and vitality of your body?

Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

ANALYSIS

Hypochondria is a tendency to imagine one is ill or to acquire psychosomatic symptoms in order to gain attention and sympathy or to avoid responsibility.

High scorers complain of a wide variety of physical symptoms, show a great deal of concern about their state of health and frequently demand the sympathetic attention of their doctor and their family and friends. However they tend not to make rational changes to improve their health, such as by better diet and exercise, because the illness serves them and they would not want to be without it. Psychosomatic symptoms may also be the result of re-stimulation of past physical or emotional trauma by present circumstances; but this does not tend to be lasting unless the illness serves the person in some way.

Those with low scores are seldom ill and do not worry very much about their health; which is not to say that they do not take responsibility for their health. They enjoy being alive.

How do you compare?

The norm on this trait is between 9-10 points (a statistical approximation). This may be represented on the following scale:

Hypochondria 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 || 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Sense of Health

Continue to the next Trait: GUILT.

Return to Know Your Own Mind.